Author Archives: Deacon Jonathan Jones

Pope Francis Turns 79!

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Pope Francis 79Yesterday, Pope Francis celebrated his 79th birthday.  And I am sure that the majority of Catholics, other Christians, and peoples of other faiths are all wishing him: “Ad multos annos!”  (Many more years!)  However, it cannot be denied that there are those within the Church who are hoping for a short pontificate.  Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press has a interesting article posted on Crux; which looks into this undercurrent of hostility aimed at the Pope, by the every ones who are suppose to be assisting him.

When, in 2013, the College of Cardinals elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy, the conventional wisdom was that they were looking for a reformer.  They saw a Vatican Curia mired in scandal, inefficiency, and dysfunction.  They expected Pope Francis to “clean the stables,” and reorganize the Curia to be more responsive to the needs of today’s universal Church.  Shortly after his election, Pope Francis established a “Council of Cardinals”, one of it’s members is Boston’s own Cardinal Sean O’Malley OFM Cap.  He gave it the task of proposing structural changes to the Curia, and other suggestions on dealing with issues affecting the Church.  He began the structural reform of the Vatican financial institutions, appointing the strong willed Cardinal Pell of Australia to insure the reforms take hold.

At the same time, Pope Francis has said and done things that may have made some of the cardinal electors wondering what they have themselves into.  Traditionalists are up arms at what they see as his reversal of liturgical trends put in place by his predecessors.  Others are concerned that he is taking a more pastoral approach, at the cost of watering down Church teachings.  And then there are those bureaucrats in the Curia, who are more interested in preserving their positions, perks, and power; then in actually serving the members of the Church.

I am among those who wish the Pope “ad multos annos;” but I fear that it may be a short pontificate.  I am afraid that the expected reforms may not be finalized.  And that Pope Francis may not have enough time to appoint those bishops and cardinals who will ensure that his reforms will survive his passing.  Part of me wishes that he would spend more time in Rome; and not on these strenuous trips; that tax his health, and puts him in harms way.

However, the Pope will do, what he believes God is guiding him to do.  And those of us who support him, and wish him well; will pray that God’s hand will be on him, protecting him, and strengthening him.  “Ad Multos Annos!”

 

A Victory, Won by Words and Respect.

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Francis and the SultanThe holy man from Assisi is standing in the tent, waiting for a message.  His body was still sore from the beating, he and his companion received from the Sultan’s guards, when they first approached his camp.  He is remembering the scenes he saw in the Crusader’s camp; scenes of anger and hate, directed at Muslims; scenes of loss and grieving for dead comrades.  He felt the same emotions from the Sultan’s soldiers, only directed towards Christian soldiers.  He wants to bring both sides together, by convincing the Sultan and his people to accept Christ.

He remembers the day they were brought before the Sultan, who invited the holy man to speak.  He saw that the Sultan’s men were fingering the hilts of their swords, ready to draw blood if he should insult Allah and His Prophet.  He looked into eyes of the Sultan, and saw curiosity.  He took a deep breath, whispered a prayer, and began to speak.  He spoke not of doctrine, or polemics, but from his heart, from his own experience of the Beloved.  He spoke with respect for his audience.  He felt a flame beginning to burn within his heart.  It grew as he spoke of the love of Christ, and the joy of God.  The fire of the Holy Spirit blazed out from him as he proclaimed the Good News!  The Sultan and his court stood back, amazed at the sight.  When he was finished, he stood, feeling drained, but at peace.  He bowed before the Sultan, who sent him and his companion back to their tent.

Now he sees a messenger approaching; who invites the little man and his companion back to Sultan’s tent.  The Sultan appreciates the respect that the holy one showed him and his court.  He acknowledges the strength of the little poor man’s convictions, but he and his people will remain committed to their faith.  The man from Assisi is disappointed, and saddened; but then the Sultan gives him a passport, permission for his brother friars to go to Jerusalem and reside there.  The little man receives it with joy, and bows deeply before the Sultan.  The Sultan and his court bow in return towards the little poor man from Assisi.

He and his companion walk back to the Crusader camp.  He is disappointed that he did not achieve his goal; but he carries back with him a sign of victory.  It is a victory that the Crusaders will not achieve; but a band of brown rob brothers will see the walls of holy Jerusalem.  It will be achieved not with swords, but by words, spoken with conviction and respect.

 

Third Sunday of Advent – A Reflection

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Third Sunday of Advent 2015Zephaniah 3: 14-18a

Philippians 4: 4-7

Luke 3: 10-18

 

 

“Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!  The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.”  (Zephaniah 3)

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!  Your kindness should be known to all.  The Lord is near.  Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4; 4-7)

 

We are in the third week of the penitential season of the Advent; the time of preparation for day of Christmas, to celebrate the coming of the Son of God into this world.  It is a time of expectation; anticipating the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, at the end of time.  The third candle on the Advent wreath is pink; most priests celebrated Mass this day, wearing pink rose colored vestments.  It is the Church telling us that the time of preparation, of more intensive prayer, of reflecting on Scripture, of ascetic practices are almost at end.

Truth be told, it is hard to live a penitential lifestyle during the days leading up to Christmas.  The somber liturgical purple colors are overwhelmed by the bright colors of red, white, and green.  The bright Christmas lights decorating our city streets, the stores, and our office spaces; yes, even our homes; tell us Christmas is here!  During a time when we are asked to curb our desires, we are encouraged to consume more and more.  Whether it is buying lots of Christmas gifts, or the eating of Christmas candy and pastries, we are told the celebrations start now.

Yet, sometimes I think we are being feed a false message by the merchants, the politicians, and city fathers.  We see in the news of tragic events, the murder of innocents, both at home and abroad; and we experience fear.  We see, and hear, the messages of hate, whether spoken by terrorists, or our politicians, filling the airwaves and the internet.  Many of us are feeling the burden of an uncertain economy, feeling the anxieties of making ends meet, of keeping shelter over our heads.  And we have our own inner anxieties, which keep us up at night.  The “Christmas Season,” only adds to the anxieties.

It is at this moment, we need to hear the booming voice of St. Paul, saying to us: “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!” We are not an abandoned people; Emmanuel!  “God is with us!”  The Son of God came into this world to free us from fear; from sin and death!  Jesus Christ has come to give us his Spirit, to cleanse us with fire, to energize us with the fire of the Holy Spirit.  He invites us to enter into an intimate relationship with God, through Scripture, through prayer, and receiving his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  If we are able to do that, strive to do that, St. Paul promises that our anxieties and our fears will have no power over us: “Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

So we have one more week before Christmas Day, a week to enter again into a time of true preparation to celebrate that wondrous day!  To prepare our minds, our hearts, our souls to hear, really hear, the “Good News” of Jesus Christ.

Welcome the Stranger.

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 “When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.  I, the Lord, am your God. ” (Leviticus 19: 33-34)

TrumpI have used the above quote from Leviticus in a previous quote, but unfortunately, it remains relevant to current events.  And I am speaking about comments made by Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, on prohibiting persons of the Muslim faith from entering this country.  And he does not seem to distinguishing between Muslims from a specific geographic location, and all Muslims.  His statement has set off a firestorm of comments, both in the media, and blogosphere!  Many comments were highly critical of Mr. Trump’s opinion, accusing him of violating America’s high ideals.

The sad truth is that since America’s earliest beginning’s, there has been an undercurrent of religious intolerance in the country’s history.  As far back as Puritan Boston, when Quakers were persecuted; even hung, like Mary Dyer, for their beliefs.  Baptists and Evangelicals were discriminated against in the state of Virginia, in the newly born United States.  Mormons were, attacked, murdered, and were driven out to the frontiers of the Republic.  There has always been a subtle discrimination against persons of the Jewish faith.  And Catholics should remember the fierce opposition to believers of our faith existed in this nation.  Some of the early state constitutions had amendments that prohibited persons who “swore allegiance to a foreign ruler (i.e.; the Pope,)” from holding public office.  Catholic schools, orphanages, and convents were attacked at times during urban riots.  When the great waves of Catholic immigrants started coming to our shores, the fear mongering grew to fever pitch.  A nativist party, founded in the 1800’s, and known popularly as the “Know Nothings”; with the aim of preventing immigration of German and Irish Catholics, and limiting the access to the political system only to Protestants.  We have grown as country, and religious liberty is enshrined in both our Constitution, and the body politic.  There have been and always will be tensions as we continue to explore what the ideal of religious liberty and tolerance means in a modern society that has both religious and secular segments to it.

Persons, such as Mr. Trump, are threatening that ideal, by playing to the fears of terrorism that is afflicting our country right now.  Michael Sean Winters, of the National Catholic Reporter, in an interesting recent post on this issue.  In the last few paragraphs, he speaks about the real threat of terror.  The real threat is not the death and destruction terrorists can inflict, but the changes they can cause in a society.  When out of fear, they cause a society, like the U.S., to abandon its ideals of personal freedom, of openness to all faiths, for severe, hard-handed security practices, and make us an armed camp.  When it causes a nation to demonize a whole religion; a whole people, and discriminates against them; then the terrorist wins.

To stand up to terrorism, means to have the courage to remain faithful to those social and political ideals that make us a unique people on the world stage.  As a community of believers, we American Catholics need to remember our own immigrant roots, and not give into fear.  During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we are called to extend mercy; which we experience ourselves, to others.  We trust that God’s grace will help us overcome fear and anxiety, and we will welcome the stranger.

welcome the stranger

Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you.’ ” (Luke 1)

Today, we remember and celebrate the fact, that since she was to be the mother of the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God; Mary was born without the stain of original sin.  It is the first act, that culminates in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and our liberation from the power of sin and death.

San Bernardino Tragedy – A Prayer

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Francis weeping“Once I said:  ‘In the noontime of life I must depart!  To gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years’…

Like a swallow I utter shrill cries; I moan like a dove.  My eyes grow weak gazing heavenward; O Lord, I am in straits; be my surety!…

What I am to say or tell him?  He has done it!  I shall go on through all my years despite the bitterness of my soul.  Those live whom the Lord protects; yours…the life of my spirit.  You have given me health and life; thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.

You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction. When you cast behind your back all my sins.”  (Isaiah: 38: 10a, 14, 15-17)

Another senseless massacre, more innocent lives lost, more victims suffering from wounds received.  It is easy to give in to the anger, and the fear.  It easy to strike out at the groups we identify with the threat, even though a majority of them are innocent, law-abiding citizens. It is easy to agree with those pundits and politicians, who will soon be calling for expulsions, and closing of places of worship.

The challenge is to remain faithful to the ideals that founded this country, that has drawn so many people, so many refugees to its shores.

And finally,  we cannot give into despair, but draw on that faith in God, that he will still sustain us during these uncertain times.

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Thess 4: 14)

 

 

“Give Thanks to the Lord..”

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Thanksgiving2015a“On that day, you will say: I give you thanks, O Lord, though you have been angry with me, your anger has abated, and you have consoled me.  God indeed is my savior.  I am confident and unafraid.  My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my savior.

With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation, and say on that day: Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.  Sing praise to the Lord for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth.” (Isaiah 12: 1-5)

 

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

A Little Friar During the Night of Terror!

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(MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)

(MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)

He walks among the wounded, and the dead.  The City of Lights has become the City of Fear.  The tears well up in the eyes of the little poor one, because he loves the French people.  His father made his fortune selling French cloth,and he had the name of his first-born son changed from Giovanni to Francisco to honor France.  In his youth, the little one would dress as a French troubadour, entertaining the young ladies of Assisi with French love songs.

He kneels down beside one of the wounded, who is crying in pain and fear.  He takes the person’s hand, bends over, and sings to him in French.  An EMT rushes towards the wounded person, he thinks he sees a dark robed friar kneeling over him.  He blinks and the friar is gone.  He kneels beside the injured, who is now quiet, and has a peaceful look on his face.  “Paix!”

Terror Strikes Again!

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pray for parisMy wife and I do not turn on the TV much during the day.  When I do, I am usually watching TV reruns, until it is time for the evening news.  So yesterday, I was shocked when I saw the breaking news on WCVB TV, Channel 5, about the terrorist attacks throughout the city of Paris, France.

I know the scientific research is out there explaining it, but I still cannot understand why a human person can inflict so much pain, so much suffering, on another person.  How individuals can turn the great religions of humanity, faiths that teach peace, tolerance, charity, and mercy; and use them as the reason for slaughtering so many innocent men, women, children, and themselves!

In the face of so much evil, so much suffering, so much death; you cannot blame someone losing their faith in a merciful God.  As bad as things are in the world, as much as I may, at times, give in to despair; I cannot abandon my faith in God, nor my love for my Creator.  The Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to show us the path to true peace.  God the Son, came into the world, so that by his death and Resurrection, we are freed from the fear of suffering and death.  That does not mean that we will not encounter suffering.  That does not mean we will not continue to experience death, of loved ones, and our own.  But God has shown us that there is a sunrise to defeat the darkness, that life, transformed and glorified, does exist.  That there is hope.

“The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.  They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction.  But they are in peace.” (Wisdom 3: 1-3)

Good Press, Bad Press

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catacombsI have been scanning the Religion News Service online, when I came across this article by David Gibson, about the Pact of the Catacombs.  It tells the story of what happened, when on November 16th, 1965, close to the conclusion of the Second Vatican, around forty bishops gathered in a chapel located in the Catacombs of Domitilla.  At the end of the liturgy, each of the bishops affixed their signatures to a document that came to be known as the Pact of the Catacombs.  In signing it they “pledged … to ‘try to live according to the ordinary manner of our people in all that concerns housing, food, means of transport, and related matters.’

The signatories vowed to renounce personal possessions, fancy vestments and ‘names and titles that express prominence and power,’ and they said they would make advocating for the poor and powerless the focus of their ministry.

In all this, they said, ‘we will seek collaborators in ministry so that we can be animators according to the Spirit rather than dominators according to the world; we will try to make ourselves as humanly present and welcoming as possible; and we will show ourselves to be open to all, no matter what their beliefs.’  ”

The ideals outlined in that ecclesial manifesto were adopted by many of the South American prelates, Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, of Brazil, a leading advocate for the poor, was one of the original signatories.  About 500 Latin American bishops would eventually sign the Pact; among them the assassinated Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.  These bishops strived to be shepherds of a church of, and for the poor.  Many found guidance in liberation theology, which placed them at odds with conservative clergy, their countries’ dictators, and eventually the Vatican.

The original signed document of the Pact has been lost, though its contents have been widely disseminated.  Only one of the original signers is still with us.  But its spirit is very much alive in the person of Pope Francis.  He has called on the Church’s bishops to adopt a simpler lifestyle, to be true shepherds, to have the “smell of the sheep.”  And he seeks to make real the desire of St. Pope John XXIII, and the other bishops to have a Church of the poor.

The Catholic Church is going to have some rough days ahead; this weekend, the movie, “Spotlight” will open in American theaters.  It will tell the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the extant of clergy abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Boston.  It was that reporting that opened the floodgates, and revealed a scandal that continues affect the Church.  Also, two books will be published and released in Italy, which will “reveal” continuing financial scandals in Vatican City.

In the days ahead, we are going to need to examples of the lives of those bishops, who truly committed themselves to living the Gospel, to be servants of all.  And we are going to accept the challenge of the Gospel ourselves, to be servants for each other, and the world.  To seek to replace hatred with love, and war with peace, if we can do that, try to do this, perhaps we can show the world the true face of the Church.